This invention relates to the duplication of computer software program materials which are susceptible to unauthorized duplication or copying using the medium of floppy or hard disks.
Copying computer software is illegal but prosecution is extremely difficult. The initial development of computer programs is costly and time consuming resulting in a fee of several hundred dollars for programs. A blank floppy diskette costs under $5.00 and a program may be copied onto the blank diskette within a few minutes. Copy protection has existed by incorporating periodic unused sector or track on the disk and by placing part of the program out of sequence in a number of tracks. This system of placing the program in a random order confuses the computer and brings the copying to a halt. The problem with the existing copy protection program is that software programs have been developed to allow the user's computer to unscramble the copy protecting program to allow it to be copied.
The present invention provides a copyprotecting system that allows a floppy or hard disk to be reproduced but when the unauthorized disk is run the copied software program will delete intself from the floppy disk and makes the disk unusable.